Refined concept for placing search at the center of the hero image
Embedded Files
Search Redesign for Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia.
Their website is designed to attract and inspire a journey to Australia.
The project objectives were to improve the search experience offered to users on Australia.com, with a focus on travelers that had never been to Australia.
My role
I assisted the Sitback Senior UX Designer in all phases of the project and worked closely with the lead UI designer and Project Manager to redesign the Tourism Australia search experience.
Specifically my tasks were to:
Develop an expert review and compare functions against competitors
Iteratively sketch ideas for how the search experience could be improved
Provide feedback on high-fidelity prototypes for usability testing
Conduct usability testing sessions with users from key international markets
Assist with presenting findings back to the client
Methods
Lean usability expert review using Miro boards
Lean Expert Review
I examined the search experiences offered by the Australia.com website according to web usability principles and heuristics.
Key findings of expert review:
Unclear visual hierarchy and labelling
Accessibility issues such as keyboard traps
Missing expected search features such as trending or suggested items
Comparative analysis using Miro
Comparative Analysis
I examined the search experiences offered by AirBnb, TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet in a comparison process of what users were likely to experience when using other websites.
Key Findings:
Provided intelligent search suggestions
Visual search options based on icons and maps
Searching according to sequential filters and categories
Ideation for Search Improvement
I sketched ideas for how the search experience could be improved using an e-ink tablet and stylus pen.
An image search idea was chosen because of the strong visual style on Australia.com and the observation that users may be unable to correctly spell Aboriginal place names such as Uluru.
The second idea of searching by popularity was based on the psychological principle of social proof. We are more likely to follow the choices of people we perceive as similar to us.
I thought this could be applied to search by displaying popular locations to visit using tourism statistics of which places are visited most frequently by certain nationalities. Then the appropriate results could have been shown to users based on their IP address or other location data.
Image search idea
Searching by popularity idea
Implemented link based on feedback
Providing Feedback on Concepts
I worked with the lead UI designer to test the function of various high-fidelity prototypes. One of these concepts provided users with a guided search experience that branched into two separate tracks.
The first track was searching for 'inspiration', the second was searching for 'information', with the hypothesis being that separating results this way would provide less cluttered results.
However, I found that there was nothing linking these two tracks and suggested adding a link so users could readily move between 'inspiration' and 'information' search results.
Excerpt from Usability Testing Script
Usability Testing
The final high-fidelity prototypes were then tested with users from key international markets such as Britain, Japan and the USA. Scheduling was difficult due to time zone differences and required early morning and evening sessions.
Method:
Moderated 60 minute usability testing sessions with think aloud protocol
Tested the existing experience and 5 different concepts
Sample size of 10 participants
Key Findings:
Users were not impressed with the existing search experience "It doesn't look like the website is built yet"
Users liked the full redesign "This is more fun and lively, better organised"
The image search did not add value "Not sure why I would use this"
Branched experience was found to be confusing
Learnings
A modular final approach was chosen based on user preferences and observing how well each concept performed during usability testing. The image search idea and branched experience were both abandoned due to low user engagement.
It turned out that users were quite conservative in how they wanted to experience search on Australia.com and that innovative concepts were often more confusing than delightful.
While the homepage focused search experience resonated with users and drew attention to the search functionality, this idea was not progressed due to the client wanting to keep the homepage image clear.
Redesigned search overlay
Redesigned search results page
Redesigned map view
Filtering section now as a pop-up
The search redesign ended at the design stage as the client wanted to use their own internal development team
Google Sites
Report abuse